History Of Estonia 101: Part Three

Since the PMC has been going for some 60 years here in Estonia, during which time we've seen such comings and goings as the regaining of independence, the imminent introduction of the Euro, and the Beatles concerts at the Lauluväljak, we feel fully qualified to present this, a multi part set of posts on the history of Estonia which will appear, now and again as we're given time.
There's unlikely to be anything new for Estonians, who therefore don't need to read on unless they want to check we're not peddling complete mistruths. The sources are likely to be the usual internet sites such as wikipedia and any links that arise therefrom, but this should save the reader some time in finding all this stuff themselves, the one or two books we have on the subject, and maybe the occasional word of mouth stuff.
You might also want to check out our posts about a year ago now, on the Estonian language.
At the very least we hope to dispel any misconceptions of Estonia being a slavic speaking country, being located in the Balkans or being a place with a lot of stones (although this last is in fact true)...

Part Three: Of Germans, Danes and Swedes

The word 'crusade' has almost become a swear word in modern times; the rallying cry of muslim and athiest alike, it's come to be synonymous with hordes of land-hungry medieval knights, committing rape and pillage throughout the near east, absolved and abetted by equally dastardly men of the cloth. Whilst there's no doubt some truth in that image, it is, it need hardly be told, something of an oversimplification. The crusades spanned a vast period of time, from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries, and, it could be said, found a natural successor in the voyages and conquests in the new world from the sixteenth century onwards. There was much that was corrupt no doubt, but there was much idealism and honour too. And the holy land was not the only recipient; southern France experienced the Albigensian crusade of the thirteenth century, and concurrent with that was the northern crusade, announced by Pope Celestine III in 1193.

The first focus was on the Livs and Latgalians of modern day Latvia, indeed the crusade came to be known initially as the 'Livonian crusade', and a (somewhat iffy, in comparison with the outstandingly excellent Teutonic Knights) order of Knights was named after this. Important settlements along the Daugava river in Latvia were established, and the hub of operations, Riga, became an Archbishopric. From 1208 raids began into Estonian territory, and a long period of foreign occupations and invasions commenced, with little sign of abatement for the next eight centuries.

South Estonia naturally endured the brunt of these intial attacks, from the aforementioned Livonian order, or 'sword brethren', and Sakala leader Lembitu (still a popular male name) was slaughtered at the Battle of St. Matthew's day on 21 September 1217, near modern day Viljandi.

However the north of the country was not to escape these predations.Weighing in on the action, regional power Denmark became an increasingly apparent presence, with maritime raids on the country in 1170, 1194 and 1197 culminating in seizure of Oesel (Saaremaa) in 1206 and Lyndanisse (later Reval and ultimately Tallinn, a name which simply means 'Danish town') in 1219, when the Danish flag, the 'Dannebrog' reputedly fell from the sky on to a delighted King Valdemar II. Northern Estonia (roughly corresponding to the present counties of Harjumaa and East and West Virumaa) remained in Danish hands until the uprising of 1343.

Finally a third national group, perhaps the least offensive of all of Estonia's foreign lodgers, came in the form of the coastal Swedes, or 'Rannarootslased' (Rootsi/Ruotsi being the Estonian and Finnish name for Sweden) who apparently first started appearing in 1294 in the western town of Haapsalu and settled most notably many of the islands, in particular Vormsi, Hiiumaa, Ruhnu and others. This culture survived right down until the Soviet occupations of the mid-twentieth century when the bulk of the populace (though one or two stayed behind) fled, mostly to Sweden itself. Saaremaa apparently continued to give its Danish occupiers a headache, and it was finally surpressed by the sword brethren in 1227.

Thus distinctions which had already emerged between north, south and west (see the last post) were further heightened by the differing pattern of foreign occupation in each region, and the process of christianization, something which, it could be argued was never really fully carried through (no doubt because it came at the point of a sword) began...

To be continued...

Part two is here..